After School Graduation Time
by CLWiosna
Summary: Those memories of tea time seem so fleeting, now that graduation has just passed. The mirth of playing their songs together dissolved once they realized they still had to go home after playing. With anxiety, uncertainty, and butterflies fluttering a storm within all five girls, one last visit to the club-room will remind them the importance of the lyric "Graduation isn't the end."
1. Our Names on a Piece of our Memories

In a cotton-candy castle in the sky composed of all-too familiar chord progressions, a guitarist lost herself in the _fuwa fuwa_ reverie of her band's signature song. The sounds, though reverberating loudly enough for those nearby to enjoy, were played solely for the players themselves. A blissful production where the cymbals clanged in bursts of energy between the continuous snare hits, where the bass lulled deep yet perpetual tones, where the keyboard blended colorful hums beneath the melody, and where the rhythm guitar accented higher-pitched notes above the jaka-jan's of their beloved lead guitarist.

Yui Hirasawa pursed her lips before breaking into a toothy smile as she uttered the final lyrics of the song.

" _Fuwa Fuwa Time!_ "

" _Fuwa Fuwa Time!_ " Mio echoed the lyric with that vivid timbre her voice had. Yui's smile only grew bigger as she responded in kind.

" _Fuwa Fuwa Time!_ "

" _Fuwa Fuwa Time!_ " The brunette's eyes widened slightly as she heard their keyboardist echo the phrase alongside the bassist.

" _Fuwa Fuwa Time!_ "

" _Fuwa Fuwa Time!_ " The final utterance of this silly yet catchy phrase, and this time everyone had joined in for the finale, albeit in a less-than-graceful manner since Ritsu was off-tempo, Mugi played the wrong note, and Mio began laughing at the silliness of their sound. The masterful showcase of each girl that came at the end of the song devolved into nonsensical snare hits, key strokes, and guitar strums. It was utter cacophony but the beauty came not from the harmony (or lack thereof) of their instruments but from the laughs that filled the clubroom one last time.

After remembering they had to end the song one way or another, Yui took initiative by holding up two fingers and mouthing out "One, two..." before jumping in the air for one last chord. Naturally, everyone came in off-beat, resulting in more uproarious laughter.

Yui's vision soon blurred from tears due to laughing so much, leading her to wipe them away with her blazer's sleeve. She gazed back at her fellow band-mates. It seemed the giggles had cracked the dam that was Mio's normally-reserved nature, resulting in an outpouring of snickers and snorts from her as she leaned on the drummer for support. Ritsu wrapped her arm around the bassist and smiled as brightly as the lens flare would on her forehead.

 _Aww, I'm going to miss Mio-chan and Ricchan's forehead!_

Tsumugi clutched her belly while holding her hand to her mouth in some futile attempt to retain her _ojou-sama_ persona.

 _Hehe, even Mugi-chan has a silly side! I'll miss that too!_

Even the usually strict Azusa grinned in pure mirth at her senpai, widening her arms to welcome Yui in a hug for the first time ever.

 _Azu-nyan..._ wants _me to hug her?!_ The guitarist took no time in thrusting herself forward, uncaring of the fact that Gitah would likely collide unlovingly with Muttan.

The hug never came, however.

As the brunette took great strides forward, she noticed the scene of her dear friends growing further and further away. They retreated faster than her legs could carry her, their faces becoming indistinguishable and blank.

Stricken by surprise, shock, and grief, she rubbed her sleeve on her eyes again to wipe the tears away, only this time, the tears weren't from laughter.

"Ricchan...? Mio-chan?" Yui's voice was quiet and faded into oblivion almost immediately after the names were uttered. Eager to be heard by her friends, she yelled.

"Mugi-chan! Azu-nyan!"

...No response.

Sudden feelings of loneliness and longing clouted Yui's mind without her friends by her side. Gazing absentmindedly downward, she noticed the After School Tea Time logo she drew on her hand a long time ago. The tea cup and steam lines looked freshly drawn for a moment, yet abruptly began to fade away.

"What? No, After School Tea Time is still together!" The logo ignored her words as it continued to fade. "I mean, Azu-nyan won't be with us anymore, but we'll see her again! And Mio-chan, Mugi-chan, and Ricchan; we're all going to the same university!"

The logo faded to nothingness.

"No...everyone...I-I..."

Before anymore tears could flow, a muddy sound reverberated around the guitarist.

"...ee...cha..."

Yui looked around at gray blankness around her. "Wh-Who's there?!"

"Onee-chan! Onee-chan!"

* * *

"Ehh?!" Yui woke with a start, throwing off her blanket from the bed from the shock. "Ui?"

A sigh escaped the younger sister's lips before she settled with her hands on her hips. "Onee-chan, it's 1:00 in the afternoon. You should be awake by now."

"O-Oh...hehe, sorry…" The accompanying sheepish grin that followed the apology sat wrong with the younger Hirasawa. The fact that Yui hadn't tried to fall asleep once more was further distressing.

"Onee-cha, are you…crying?"

"Eh?" Yui didn't even notice. It seemed her tears in her dreams were real tears. She had been crying throughout the whole dream in the real world. She quickly wiped them away and tried to hide them beneath an excessively wide smile, one that Ui could easily see through.

The now-senior sat herself on the rim of Yui's bed, reaching her hand to rest on her shoulders. Their eyes met one another, one set puffy from crying and the other brimming with chocolate compassion. "Onee-chan…I'm proud of you…Mom and Dad are proud that you graduated and moved on to college. And I'm sure your friends are just as proud of you too."

"I know…b-but I'm just going to miss them all so much!" And again, she started to cry. Realizing words of comfort wouldn't suffice at the moment, she simply let her sister cry into her shoulder. The warmth of the tears seeped through Ui's thin long-sleeve as the younger sister slowly rubbed Yui's back in a rhythmic pattern.

Suddenly, Yui ceased her mourning, and looked up. Ui was caught off guard by it, briefly marveling at how quickly she ceased her mourning before wondering what was up.

Yui left her sister's shoulder and began to move about her room, seeming to be searching for something.

"Uhh, Onee-chan, what are you-"

"Ui!" Yui stared straight at her younger sister.

"I forgot Giita at school!"

* * *

 **A/N:** _A sort of reboot of the original "Graduation" fic that I wrote...oh dear god, almost SEVEN YEARS AGO. And funnily enough, despite me reworking that chapter from the ground up (since the way I wrote their graduation was entirely different from how Japanese graduations are :) ) ended up being two words less than the original! ...I think I regressed as a writer LOL. Either way, I originally wrote that story to have multiple chapters so that's what I'm going to do here. I could delete that story so this one could take its place but there's something nostalgic about looking at my old writings, just as there's something nostalgic about revisiting these old characters. I am very unfamiliar with them compared to how I was before, yet I do I want to finish this story this time. So anyway though, thank you very much for reading!~_


	2. These Excitement-Colored Days

Yui's feet carried minds of their own, careening down the corridors of the Hirasawa household at break-guitar-neck speeds. Not even when they rounded the corner did they falter or stumble, instead skidding to a slight halt before subsequently whiplashing Yui toward the front door.

"Hey Onee-chan! Please wai-" The words of the younger sister fell upon deaf ears. Or rather, absent ears, as Yui was already out the door and into the blazing pre-summer heat. "You forgot your hair clips...and your socks...and you kind of forgot to change out of your pajamas in the first place..."

No one was around to hear her vocalize the blunders of her sister, yet Ui did so anyway because hearing them spoken aloud brought a few quaint chuckles to her. "Ahh..." her chocolatey eyes shifted its gaze from the front door to the kitchen. "Looks like breakfast will be for one today... or maybe Nodoka-senpai might be free to share?"

* * *

It didn't take much time after her sudden departure for Yui to realize she was still in her pajamas. Racing forward in her wrinkled salmon T-shirt with a colon-three logo imprinted on it, as well as in sweatpants of a darker shade of pink, she slowed her pace to that of an unhurried walk when she realized _Oh, pug-faced slippers probably aren't good to run in..._

Her eyes looked downward at the fuzzy rendition of her favorite dog's face, which stared its thousand-yard stare into the abnormally hot spring afternoon. "Ahh right, I'm not really in any hurry either, haha..." Yui proceeded toward her usual path to Sakuragaoka in a much more lackadaisical manner. "Why was I running again? Giita's not going anywhere; Giita's a guitar!"

If it wasn't for the meanie Sun-san that decided to shine its rays extra-hot for today, she would have appreciated the leisurely stroll much more since she didn't have to worry about making it to school on time. Yui Hirasawa was either comically late or absurdly early; never in between!

As her eyes glittered at the thought of her precious guitar, they soon lost their luster as she realized the possibility of her lonely Les Paul sulking in the corner of the clubroom, begging for its owner to save him. "Quell thy fears, Giita! For your savior, Yui-san, is coming to rescue you from the clutches of loneliness!"

And once more, Yui set off into another unnecessary dash toward school.

As she neared the railroad crossing, the warning lights flashed red while the yellow-and-black gates lowered. Yui resorted to jumping in place as the train whizzed by, blowing Yui's stray bangs straight into her eyes. It was then that Yui noticed _Wait, I've done this before...twice! Once during orientation and another during my junior-year school festival._

Both instances were displays of Yui's silly disposition, though the first was due to being late (actually early) to school while the other was to grab Giita from home in order to play it during their school festival's performance. Looking back on it and comparing it to her current situation, Yui could not help but cease her frantic hopping and laugh at the similarity of these situations, uncaring of the couple of adults giving her awkward glances. _I may be a senpai to everyone now, but I guess some things about me just don't change, hehe._

Now having caught her breath, Yui wiped the beads of sweat accumulating on her face and let her mind reflect. _The first time, I was worried about feeling I needed to_ do _something. The second time, I thought I'd grown by then and found a place to belong._

Her palm unconsciously opened to reveal the After School Tea Time logo she had drawn on it the night before. She noted one of the steam marks stretching farther than the others, probably because she fell asleep while drawing it and her hand made the stroke bigger by accident. Yui smiled to herself amidst her giggling. _And I definitely did find a place to belong! In the Light Music Club, with Ricchan, Mio-chan, Mugi-chan, and Azu-nyan!_

At that moment, memories of her nightmare immediately resurfaced: her friends withdrawing into a colorless void, the band logo on her hand fading into nothingness, the tears that wouldn't stop flowing.

"Everyone..." That joyous sparkle that often showed in her eyes now revealed a glint of grief, liquid threatening to flow down her cheeks as they did this afternoon. With the mere mention of her fellow band-mates' names, the feelings from her nightmare hit her like a train...

"...ain...train...The train, miss..."

"Eh?" Yui was snapped out of her reverie by the man next to her. "I'm sorry, what was it?"

"The train has passed."

Surely enough, the train gates had risen and other residents were shuffling across the railroad tracks.

"Oh! Thank you, mister!" Without another word, Yui took into a power-walk to hide her embarrassment.

* * *

Since the route to school had been deeply ingrained into her mind by this point, Yui trusted her feet to guide her while returning her mind to the thoughts that accompanied her nightmare. Unpleasant as it was, there were a few things that Yui found iffy about it.

 _Well, it's not as if I'm going to be alone! Ricchan, Mio-chan, and Mugi-chan; we all agreed to go to the same university together._ Despite having multiple offers from prestigious universities, Mio turned them all down in favor of attending J. Women's University with the other three, sacrificing a potential higher-quality education in favor of being with those she held dear. After hearing this from Mio, Yui felt assured that After School Tea Time would continue well into their college years, even more so after learning all of them had passed their entrance exams for J. Women's University.

However, Yui's thoughts about the band ignored a very central person.

 _...But Azu-nyan's an important part of After School Tea Time too!_ Thinking back, Yui recalled that the band name wasn't even an established thing until _after_ Azusa had joined the Light Music Club. _It isn't After School Tea Time if Azu-nyan's not in it!_ Yui aptly concluded. _But it's not like we're all moving away and never going to see her ever again. I'm sure all four of us can visit and HTT can live on._

Yui felt this conclusion had enough grounds to dispel any sadness she had felt the night prior, as well as the afternoon now. Despite that, the wet sensation in her eyes did not go away.

"So why am I still...like this?" She raised her right hand in preparation to wipe the tears away but her eyes centered on the logo that was still on her hand. She balled it into a fist and held it to her heart, afraid that it would disappear like it did in her nightmare. Her eyes closed in a vain attempt to halt the tears.

Brief glimpses of the past three years flashed in her mind. From memories of anxiously approaching the clubroom with absolutely no guitar experience to memories of agreeing to going to Tsumugi's villa for their first training camp. From going the villa a second time for yet another training camp with the new recruit Azusa to attending SummerFest in her senior year. And of course, from travelling to London with her beloved friends to performing one last song to Azusa as a heartfelt farewell. All of these and more were memories that Yui held close to her heart.

Before more tears could flow, Yui opened her eyes to realize that she was neither near Sakuragoka, nor on the path toward Sakuragaoka. Instead, she was in the shopping district in her town, specifically right next to the pastries store.

"Wait, how did I get here?" Yui questioned aloud to no one in particular. Her eyes immediately lit up at the sight of strawberry shortcake, though it didn't completely cheer up her mood.

After gaining her bearings, she huffed in mock admonishment to herself. Or more particularly, to her feet. "I trusted you, my precious feetsies! How could you lead me astray to this wonderful...delectable...cake shop, ehehe..." Mouth already beginning to water, Yui shook her head. "No no no, I just graduated! I am a college student now and I should act like one!"

"I guess some things about you just don't change." A voice stood out from the hustle and bustle of the shoppers moving to and fro.

Yui whipped her body around to find the voice. "Huh? Who is it?!"

An audible sigh came from the voice said. "I think it went something like... _The familiar uniforms and indoor shoes, the doodles on our whiteboard~_ "

 _Yeah...the funny little drawings we'd doodle on the whiteboard were nice too-wait!_ Both the voice and lyric rang very familiar to Yui.

" _I guess we have to leave them behind at the entrance to tomorrow..._ "

 _Oh...hehe, of course. I could never forget._ Finally finding the source of said singing, Yui found comfort in the lyrics of the song she helped write and the sight of the twin-tails she would always remember hugging.

" _But hey, we met one! A wonderful angel..._ right, Azu-nyan?"

* * *

 **A/N:** _I hadn't planned to take the story in this direction when I first started planning out "Graduation" all those years ago but I'm definitely having fun with it! I have a lot of fun writing Yui in this sort of light, where she's not_ always _the ever-smiling airheaded yet wise guitarist that we've all come to know and love. I experimented with it in my "Yesterday, Once More" fic and I'm playing around with it more here. Though she's the most smile-y and optimistic of the group, I do feel that she can be prone to genuine moments of sadness and loneliness when her friends aren't around her. Definitely not all the time but I think with graduation finally hitting her, that's a momentous enough occasion to make her angst juuuuust a little ^^" As always, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I'm having fun writing! Seriously, I haven't written for this site in years but it feels really nice to be back and trying it once more._


End file.
